Bristow Helicopters Flight 56C

Bristow Helicopters Flight 56C

Helicopter floating after ditching
Accident
Date	19 January 1995 (1995-01-19)
Summary	Lightning strike, ditching
Site	6 miles southwest of the Brae Alpha oil rig in the North Sea[1] 58°42′N 1°18′E
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Eurocopter AS332L Super Puma
Aircraft name	Cullen
Operator	Bristow Helicopters
Call sign	56C
Registration	G-TIGK[2]
Flight origin	Aberdeen Airport, Scotland, United Kingdom
Destination	Brae Alpha oil rig, Brae oilfield, North Sea
Occupants	18
Passengers	16
Crew	2
Fatalities	0
Injuries	16
Survivors	18

Bristow Helicopters Flight 56C was a helicopter flight that flew between Aberdeen and the Brae Alpha oil rig in the North Sea. On 19 January 1995, the AS 332L Super Puma helicopter operating the route, registered G-TIGK and named Cullen, was struck by lightning. The flight was carrying 16 oil workers from Aberdeen to an oil platform at the Brae oilfield. All 18 people on board survived.

Crew

The commander of the flight was Cedric Roberts (44). He had been with Bristow Helicopters Ltd since 1974. He was a very experienced pilot with more than 9,600 hours of flying time under his belt. The first officer was Lionel Sole (39). Sole had been with Bristow Helicopters Ltd since 1990. He had more than 3,100 hours of flying time to his credit.^[3]

Accident

Remains of the helicopter after being recovered from the North Sea

En route, the helicopter ran into poor weather and was then struck by lightning. This caused severe damage to the tail rotor. Though the helicopter managed to limp for a few more minutes, the tail rotor eventually failed completely when the copilot tried to test if his controls were still working and the pilots were forced to perform an emergency autorotation onto the rough seas. Emergency flotation devices on the helicopter allowed the passengers and crew to be evacuated onto a life raft. Despite the high waves and bad weather, all the people on board the flight were rescued by the ship standby rescue Grampian Freedom.

The lightning strike was an isolated one in the storm, and may have been induced by the helicopter flying through the cloud. The accident investigation also revealed potential troubles with the carbon fibre composite material with brass strip design of the rotors which made the rotorblades prone to explosion and damage from lightning strikes.

In popular culture

The events of Flight 56C were featured in "Helicopter Down", a Season 3 (2005) episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday^[4] (called Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the U.S. and Air Crash Investigation in the UK and elsewhere around the world).

See also

Other North Sea helicopter incidents:

• 1986 British International Helicopters Chinook crash
• Helikopter Service Flight 451 (1997)
• Bond Offshore Helicopters Flight 85N (2009)
• CHC Helikopter Service Flight 241 (2016)

References

1. Aviation Safety Network Archived 12 February 2024 at the Wayback Machine
2. "G-INFO Database". Civil Aviation Authority.
3. Aircraft Accident Report
4. "Helicopter Down". Mayday. Season 3. Episode 7. 2005. Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic Channel.

• Air Accidents Investigation Branch (1997). Aircraft Accident Report 2/97: Report on the accident to Aerospatiale AS32L Super Puma, G-TIGK, in North Sea 6 nm south-west of Brae Alpha Oil Production Platform on 19 January 1995 (PDF). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 978-0-11551-973-4.

External links

• CAA progress report for 1998 (p. 29)
• CAA progress report for 1997 (p. 26)
• Aviation Safety Network